Expiry Dates
by Ahro
Summary: Derris-Kharlan's break from Sylvarant and Tethe'alla is good for a few but when news gets out that when Derris-Kharlan crashes into the 'sun', all hell breaks loose as the knowledge that every planet in the galaxy could now be destroyed. CH 3 UPLOADED!
1. Prologue

SPOILERS

Expiry Dates

_Before I leave this world I, want to see it spin from out there,_

_Watch the colours swirl before we blow it into shades of black and gray_

_No wings and no gates, just skill testing questions and expiry dates_

.:Prologue:.

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

It had only been a week since one of Gaia's three moons had suddenly and unexpectedly broke apart from its parents, and it still hadn't shown much sign of direction. Of course the coming of the great separation was to be expected by the great Leads, only… not so soon.

The moons stability in clinging to each other continuously wavered through out the course of one of Gaia's years. The phenomenon had even spawned it's own occupation on the planet.

Known as Occulants. The people who studied the moons continuously updated the unfortunate habitants of the planet to there monthly changing's. For if one or all of them were to break apart and loose there orbital paths, then they would inevitably come crashing into Gaia, creating a break in the glass and destroying the planet, which would untimely result in the destruction of every planet and moon in the galaxy.

Gaia, also the word for Natural Mother in the Hethian speech, was the galaxy's heart and soul, or more importantly, it's life source. With Gaia unavoidably being placed in the center of the galaxy brought life to the worlds and moons surrounding it. Gaia was reason to believe on other planets and moons to be called, the sun. Gaia was made up of three layers. It's outer, interior and core. Its outer layer was a clear mirror, which amplified and conducted the far off stars light source, creating a blinding light and a source of heat to the galaxy's inhabitants.

The interior was where the life resigned. Life, known as the Brine, consisted of beings formerly known as humans. They lived on the soft interior in darkness, below the protecting boundary of the mirror. The mirror may have conducted light, but all it did was reflect it and its interior layer never received a drop of it.

To combat this darkness, Brine's brought forth the elements that Gaia bestowed upon them, and succeeded in creating a force known as technology. With their protection and light clearly secured, Brine's lived in peace on the desolate barren world of black and gray. With only there hopes and dreams to cling to as they looked on to there colorful partners in the sky, the three worlds that lived on as Gaia's moons, Derris-Kharlan, Tethe'alla, and Sylvarant. Together they made up the chain of Symphonia.

These three moons along with all other planets in there tiny galaxy found themselves wrapped in an endless struggle of tug o' war. Thus, Gaia's core came into play. In the very center of Gaia rested a massive sphere which held the invisible strands tied to each and every moon and planet which continuously tugged and loosened as the planets and moons rotated around the giant central planet.

The only problem that faced the world was the chain of moons that orbited around itself. These moons were strange somehow and held their own source of life and willpower. Over years of study, the Occulants and the Leads worked together in hopes of learning what it was that Symphonia had that kept the cores lines slack. Of course travel through the great mirror had been conducted many times, only to continuously come to the solid mass with strained hearts as the glass remained solid and unbreakable. All hopes of ever being close enough to the chain to try and tell whether there own world would ever be in danger by them had vanished, just like the simple lives the Brine's use to lead. Now, the majority of the brine population resigned away from the unnatural light the Leads had created for them. Instead they hid in their holes like rats trying to escape society and indulge themselves in drinking and partying. Allowing for the Leads to loose their sovereignty over them all and eclipsing into a state of drones.

The Occulants on the other hand, continued to study the chains progressions through out the years, continuing there monotonous inquiries to the uncaring public about what the moons were doing. It was up to them to keep the knowledge that there planet wouldn't be around forever especially if any of those moons were to strike the mirror and leak in the light of the stars which would slowly and completely consume the soft interior resulting in the destruction of Gaia and the destruction of every planet and moon in the galaxy.

Thoughts of this ever happening became a fairy tale as the centuries grew on and nothing ever happened. The practice of evacuation was doused, as the only vehicles capable of reaching the gap between Gaia and the moons could never be completed. As well as the lack of knowledge of just how strong the light the mirror consumed from the stars would be. Whether it could destroy their ships, or let them leave could never be found out until that fateful time, and even then it would be to late.

But in all hopes that this problem never succeeded in becoming a reality a lone group continued to upgrade there own ship in the latest technology that continued to come out of the Leads and Occulants in hopes of stopping the inevitable.

The girl had only but mounted her motorbike when a dark stranger rode up along side her.

"It has finally happened." The stranger began. "Derris-Kharlan has broken the chain and is heading straight for us."

It had been four years since Derris-Kharlan had broken away from the two worlds. A floating prison housing but one lonely soul who choose a selfless punishment for his self.

His world was made up of purples and grays now. With no immediate light or immediate darkness to fall into and escape. His thoughts rested on what he left behind, and the choices he made throughout his life. What had made him fall into this endless spiral of colourless emotions?

The man in question rested upon a large metallic dais. Starring out into what would most likely be oblivion, an endless stretch of stars with nothing but a lone sun to try and brighten his life.

Day after day now, the sun seemed to have gotten closer to his tiny planet. Not taking to much care into it he had fallen into more lapses of self-punishment. More thoughts of what life could have been like had his friend, Mithos, chose another road. He may have lived his life out with his wife Anna, and his only son, Lloyd.

But something was strange…

The suns light slowly peaked over the edges of the stained glass which kept him isolated inside the city and quickly forced the man to squint as the sun reached his cold eyes. Getting to his feet, and allowing the see through blue wings to appear from his shoulder blades he leapt to the air and floated over to the glass.

Derris-Kharlan had grown terribly close to the sun now. The heat from it could be seen eating away at what remained of the planet's barren surface.

"Heh, well it looks like my end is near." He turned his back on the raging inferno in front of him as the planet neared even closer.

"I'm sorry, Lloyd, for having brought you into a world such as this." Kratos Aurion said sadly as the suns light and heat engulfed the darkness, as sun and moon collided.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?" Lloyd Irving, now a twenty year old man exasperated as he pulled on the great dogs fur to stop the beast.

"Whine!"

"Oh, sorry, Noishe." Lloyd patted the harmed spot on the dog's neck as it cried in forgiveness to his friend.

"But what's going on. It's to early for an eclipse." The sun's light had completely gone out sending the afternoon sky of Sylvarant to go black. A sudden quake soon followed as if a sonic blast had gone off somewhere on the small planet.

Almost as soon as the planet was sent into darkness light from the sun flew back on, almost like someone had simply blown out a candle and then re-lit it.

"What is going on around here?" Kicking his mount into forward motion he then headed on towards the city of Palmacosta, to where the brand new observatory had been resurrected in hopes of studying more of the worlds around them. "Maybe Zed picked up some information."

Two worlds rested in confusion, one in ruin, and another in panic, the rest in total annihilation. Thus the beginning of the Apocalypse had begun.

_Author's Note: _

_ First the disclaimer:_

_ I do not own any of the characters from the game Tales of Symphonia or any of the worlds created in that amazing game. I do own however the people and places unknown to the game. All else resides to the company of Namco._

_ Expiry Dates is a fabulous song by JoyDrop. Song title and lyrics are directly quoted from that song._

_Now, notes on the story:_

_ I just recently beat Tales of Symphonia, 43 hours was my playtime before I completed it. It was a fantastic game and I encourage many people to play it, although I certainly hope that if you're reading this than you have played the game to completion otherwise you're going to be quite upset with me as there are spoilers in this story, as indicated at the top._

_ If I receive any flames pointing out that I spoiled something, I will completely ignore you and simply point at the SPOILERS sign at the top of each chapter and simply say, "You are a dumbass." So please don't waste my time or your time in doing this. Finish the game than come and read the story. __ That's what I did before I came to want to read any fanfics for the game. Heh. Anyways, please RxR. Any comments or questions I'll gladly answer. Enjoy the rest of Expiry Dates!!_


	2. Date I

SPOILERS

Expiry Dates

_Before I leave this world I, want to see it spin from out there,_

_Watch the colours swirl before we blow it into shades of black and gray_

_No wings and no gates, just skill testing questions and expiry dates_

.:Date I:.

"It has finally happened! One of the chain finally broke its bond and did exactly what we had expected! Wait till the Leads see this. We'll be famous!"

"Are you crazy! Why are you so excited about being famous! This could easily mean the end of Gaia and every other planet in our galaxy for that matter!" The girl yelled to her partner as she pulled her bike out in front of him, forcing him to come to a dead stand still on his own bike, almost loosing himself over the front tire.

"Eve. Please. Our ship is ready to go, and soon we can get off of this desolate planet. All of those fools will be stuck here trying to fix the mirror while we get out of here!"

"Dolsolus." Eve said quietly as she got off her bike and approached her friend. Slowly raising her eyes to meet his, a quivering smile spread across Dolsolus's face as Eve's fist landed a clean blow to the side of his head, knocking him clearly off of his bike and sprawled eight feet away.

Eve walked over to her bike and started it up. Pulling up next to her injured friend she quietly said, "This is why I don't explain myself to you. It never seems to get through." At this she stepped on the gas and flew off in the direction of the destruction where the moon Derris-Kharlan had struck Gaia.

"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with her stubbornness." Dolsolus said rubbing his face where she had struck him. Feeling moisture on his hand he pulled it away to see a nice amount of blood on his hand. "Heh, she never fails to draw blood from someone either. I always said she would have made a great nurse." Jumping on his own bike, he quickly sped after the retreating motorbike, hopping that what they were doing wouldn't falter their chances of escaping the planet.

Eve had reached the site not to soon after she had left her friend. She sat there and starred at the enormous moon that had completely annihilated their entire eastern boarder. Leads and Occulants had already arrived and were setting out people to surround the perimeter. At this rate, she would never get her chance to even touch the alien land, which glowed in it's alternating colours of purples, dark reds, and navy blues. It wasn't to long after till Dolsolus arrived, bandaged head and all.

Eve let out a slight laugh at the sight of Dolsolus's failed attempts at self-healing.

"What! Well, maybe if you didn't always have to so forcefully get your point across maybe this wouldn't happen." Eve had made her way over to him and had taken off the bandage and taking out some ointment, and rubbed it on the gash near his temple and then wrapped his head back up.

"I would. But since it's the only way I can get my point across to _you_. All you have to do is use your brain a little and comprehend what I'm telling you and maybe you'd get away with only a few bruises." She said as she finished her work.

"Yeah, but you still don't need to be so forceful." He said as he touched the bandage, trying to examine her work.

"Shhh, we need to get onto that moon. I want to see if there are any life forms on it. My grandparents always use to tell me stories of these green plants that use to be on Gaia years ago and how the moons also had such things."

"You mean those stupid little dried out leaves that you always have around with you. You plan on looking for those things? What about getting off this rock."

"I know, I know. I already contacted Search on the matter. He's got the ship all set up and ready for us when we want to leave. But right now, I want to get up there." Her gray eyes widened in excitement as she turned her bike to an area that still had yet to be occupied by the Occulants and Leads.

"Come on there's our chance!" She said in wild excitement as she kicked her bike into motion and she went speeding down the dusty hill towards the fallen moon, her comrade in close tow.

Throwing her bike into full throttle the two sped up the side of the moon, which still resided in the darkness that the un-shattered mirror still hid from the light of the stars. At the peak of there travel a giant city suddenly came into view. The architecture was completely alien to there own cold steel and heartless metal. To this metallic beauty left Eve's black heart a sign of light that there was hope yet for their lives to be bathed in light and warmth.

"Come on! Let's check that place out!" Eve cried back to her friend as he waved up to her as she sped faster towards the strange local.

Coming to a stand still in front of what seemed to be the entrance. Her gaze was drawn upwards into a pillar. It seemed to be a strange platform of some sort. Rounding her bike around the corner as she took in every aspect of the weird contraption she finally decided and left her bike to rest against one of the strange pillars as she slowly stepped onto the stage.

"Eve! What are you doing! You don't know what the hell that thing does!"

"Well. I have a feeling it acts a lot like our own platforms in the cities. Wouldn't you say so?"

"Yeah, but." Dust suddenly kicked out from beneath the platform as a strange purple circle descended around Eve and a blue transparent light quickly rose up around her.

"Ahh, looks like it's working." The platform began to rise as Dolsolus stood on the ground looking up and flailing about in hopes of trying to get her down.

"Eve! Don't go up there! You might get killed!"

"Don't worry about it! I'll be fine. Watch my bike for me!" She cried down as the platform finally fitted in with the landing above and all signs of the girl were gone.

"Ah, but… damnit, Eve!" Dolsolus cursed as the ground began to shake. Looking over his shoulder he found what the problem was. An army of machines known as Regas came storming up towards the city. They were huge beasts in the shapes of Gaia's lords of darkness. There was Cale, a huge shadow demon, Dais, a fierce poisonous spider demon, Sekmet, another demon bringer of sin, and finally Anubis, a giant dog demon.

"Oh no. Not the Regas! Eve, get down here! The Regas are here!!"

But Dolsolus's attempts were futile, as Eve had already wondered off into the depths of the great city. Platforms hung loosely in the air as the vibrant colours swelled around her. She was simply overcome by the different colours that she scarcely realized what was going on around her. There was clearly something going on outside the grand city walls as the pounding of the giant Regas continued on, as well as the silent footsteps of a lone visitor approached her.

"This is incredible. I never would have thought such wonders could be seen by the Brine eye."

"And what wonders one could be fall upon learning that ones soon to be grave was really another planet simply populated by humans." The voice signaled an immediate spin around by Eve as the stranger quickly grabbed the girl's wrist, which had been holding a knife, which ended up on the ground with a clatter. "And what do you think you would have done with that?"

"Hmm… nothing but a bit of protection." Before the man could respond the girl had spun around again with avidly quick reflexes and sliced into the man's arm with yet another strange dagger. Letting go the girl jumped away from the staggering man as he held his injured arm.

"What… did you… do to me?" The man gasped before he collapsed to the ground. With a sigh, Eve grabbed her other dagger, slipped it into her belt, and grabbed the now unconscious man's arm and taking out a small device from a small pouch on her hip she let it rest on the man's bleeding arm. It appeared to be a bug of some sort, but as soon as blood touched it, it began to move and it ran up and down the slice in the man's arm allowing it to heal almost instantly.

She figured this would be the best time to take a look see out the glass windows that surrounded her on all sides, almost like a dome.

"I could do with out the glass." Eve said randomly as her gray gaze lingered out over the city that rested before her. It seemed that the majority of it had been completely destroyed, save a few buildings that still clung to the air that supported them. The whole city was marvelous. The girl's eyes moistened a little as she quickly dried them for she had never cried in her life, and wasn't going to allow something as colour to bring it about to her. Her glance finally moved away from the still dark outline of the city to a new route that lead down a corridor. Her gaze moved to the man behind her, who still remained unconscious on the floor. Her paralysis daggers worked wonderfully, as they sent the victim into a slight coma. She had only allowed so much of the daggers power to seep into the man, as she didn't want to kill him, or keep him asleep for so long that she wouldn't ever get a chance to have a friendly chitchat with him.

"What the hell." Moving down the corridor it almost seemed like it had begun to brighten. Her hopes of seeing light were soon dashed as she found herself running into a dead end. With a sigh she dropped her gaze only to be met with something that looked vaguely familiar.

"Oh really now. A warp node. And I had begun to think these people were highly advanced in the ways of technology." She said with a grin as she took out a small wand type contraption and making a downward slashing type motion with her arm in front of her, the destination that the broken warp node use to teleport to showed up in front of her. The wand quickly fell from her hand as bright greens and blues flooded into her eyes. Stepping through the rift she had just created she was instantly met with bright sunlight above her as green plants flourished around her and a river ran to her right. Birds sung and the warmth of the sun, her sun, filtered down upon her.

"Oh my lords. Is this what we've been missing for all of these years." She cried out desperately as she fell to the cool grass below her.

"Welcome to the green house of Derris-Kharlan." A voice behind her quickly grabbed her attention as she jumped up from where she had knelt, daggers at the ready. But upon noticing the man's weak outward appearance she slowly placed the blades away in their rightful places.

Kratos eyed her suspiciously. He quickly took in her appearance. Her outfit, hair, skin tone, and eyes were all completely alien to him. Her short cut ebony hair blew slightly in the breeze and her bangs that grew long in the front whipped about her pale face as her gray eyes reached his brown. Her clothes consisted of tight black leather, an assortment of buckles running up her thighs and various belts hung loosely and tightly around her waist. A similar loose fitting garment swung around her form that was attached at her shoulders. Numerous scars ran up her arms and where her vest dipped down into a V where what looked to be a strap of leather another long scar could be seen. Her neck was cluttered with strange necklaces, but the one necklace that got his attention the most, was the chain with the two dog tags clipped to it.

"Well, you certainly seem to be a very interesting person. If this is what life after death is than I think I would have preferred no life after death."

"Heh, I don't really think you should be talking to me like that in your current condition." Her eyes traveled to the long sword attached at his hip. "You have a sword, and yet you seem a bit out of practice if the simple move I pulled on your earlier was able to pull out that much damage on you. What's wrong with you? And why are you alone on this moon?"

Kratos gave a slight laugh. "What's wrong with me? I think that would be a better question you should be asking yourself. Have you looked in a mirror at all recently?" The girl was quick, he had to give her that. She was already on him like a mongoose was on a snake. The dagger she had dropped earlier aimed cleanly at his jugular.

"You're certainly something."

"You're going to tell me what this place is, what's going on. Why your moon struck our planet. And who you are. Otherwise. I'll slit the most precious vain in your body and you'll die in an instant, and I won't try to heal it like I did the last."

"Go ahead then. I've been wanting to die for a long time now." Anger in her eyes, she took the man and flung him to the ground.

"You're really beginning to piss me off, pal." But before she could continue her failed attempts at an interrogation the sounds of the Regas that she just now realized were upon the city dragged her attention away and initiated her being into a state of panic.

"Oh shit! The Regas are here!"

"Regas?"

"The Lords and Leads. If they find you they'll put you through far worse things, than death."

"Like what?"

"Like invading the remaining two chains of Symphonia in hopes of finding a way to save Gaia."

"What?"

"Ugh, come on. I'll explain it later. We need to get out of here first and I need to take you to our strong hold. I'll ask questions, you'll ask questions, we'll both get answers. Deal?"

"Well if this has anything to do with Sylvarant or Tethe'alla than I'm willing to work with you on this." With a grateful smile from Eve she quickly grabbed him by the arm and jumped through the rift she had made earlier. Picking up the carelessly dropped wand from earlier she drew another rift before them, which looked on to a gray world, a worried man of twenty-eight and their two motorbikes.

"Bought time you got here. The Regas are— who is he?" Eve shot a glance at Kratos and back to her friend.

"Let's leave introductions for later. We need to get out of here now!" Eve jumped onto her bike and started it up, Dolsolus acting out the same motions. Just about getting ready to take off in a cloud of dust, Eve remembered there little bit of cargo. Looking around she starred at the colourful figure behind her. "Well, are you coming?" As if on cue, Kratos's transparent blue wings sprouted from his back as he floated a foot off the desolate ground.

"I have my own way of transpor— what are you doing!" Eve had taken out yet another small mechanical looking bug from her waist pouch and let it fly through the air and allowed it landing space right on Kratos's brown hair. Instantly, as if a wall of water had flowed over his body and drowned him, his intricate clothes vanished and were replaced by black baggy pants, a black leather, sleeveless, vest and a white, long sleeve, button down, undershirt that remained with tails untucked in front and back. His hair colour immediately went to a far darker brown than his original shade, but his eye vibrant brown eyes remained the same.

Getting up from her bike. Eve walked around the newly transformed alien. Inspecting ever aspect of the new outfit and dreary colours she had taken away from him. But upon reaching his face, she let out a heavy sigh.

"Looks like we still have a few bumps to work out in the trans bugs programs." She let out another sigh as she remained starring into Kratos's eyes. "You really do have gorgeous eyes." After stepping away from him, Kratos let out a cough. He wasn't use to having another human so close to him so quickly.

"Well come on, let's go then." Eve said one again. Now on her bike once more, she patted the back seat as she starred at the unmoving Kratos.

"Erm… I told you already, I have my own—huh?" Snapping out of the girls trance she almost seemed to have placed on him, he suddenly realized that he felt weaker. His angelic powers felt far away from him now as he tried to bring forth his wings only to no avail. He then glared at the girl. "What did you do to me!?"

"Oh that. I simply placed a trans bug on you. Don't worry. You haven't lost anything. It's only cloaked so the Regas, Leads, and Occulants won't see you."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't figured it out yet? The world you have crashed into is a gray and desolate place. If anyone, even normal Brine's saw some colourful creature like your, flying through the city, you would be immediately shot down and experimented on." She explained vaguely.

"Then, why didn't you do that to me?"

Eve started to open her lips, but then closed them and dragged her attention away from him. "Just get on the bike. The Regas could come to this part of your city any minute now, and if they found you… well… let's just say they wouldn't be bringing out the welcoming party." Starting the engine back up, she spun the bike around and pulled it up along side the still slightly confused Kratos. Kratos starred at the strange vibrating contraption before him. He had seen his fair share of technology, but this was no where near the familiar magitechnology he knew of.

"Will you get on!" At this outburst by Eve and the approaching rumbling from the Regas, Kratos gave into Eve's persistence and climbed onto the bike, and without even the slightest second, they were speeding off into Dolsolus's wake.

"So what have you found? Any life forms?"

"Yes, sir! We found plant life! Green plant life!" The occulant exclaimed to the Lead waving a small flower around in front of the Lead.

Taking the plant carefully in his hands he replied in a cold calm manner, "That's wonderful. But I would like a life form that I could TALK TO!" The Lead yelled as he grabbed the occulant by the collar with his free hand.

"I—I'm sorry, sir! But it seems there are no life forms in the city that are at the level of Brine speech." The occulant quivered. Dropping the shivering occulant the lead dismissed him as he ran off down another hall.

"Fools. They don't even know what they're searching for. Their heads are to clouded with thoughts of the stars, planets, and moons." The lead said angrily crumpling the tiny flower in his hand. Walking off down another path, he came to a huge open area, with floating platforms and a clear glass dome. Amazed at the colours that overwhelmed his black gaze, his feet lead him to a small pool of liquid, which drew his gaze away and down to the floor. It was the one colour the Brine's had seen often in there world, the colour of human blood. A broken medi bug rested beside the small pool as well. Picking the mechanical contraption carefully up, he starred at bemusedly. "So. Someone was here. And my bets are placed on the fact that they have already taken the alien into the city." Crushing the bug in his hand he let out a laugh. "Run you fools! But remember! The eyes of Anubis and the high Lead Sinaider will be watching for your every move!" A horrid laugh escaped the man as the large wolfen Rega let out a heart-wrenching howl into the broken sky.

_Author's Note:_

_Well, Chapter I is complete. I feel pretty good about this story. I can actually see this one going places… such as having a final chapter!!! gasp Just you watch, a few more chapters later, I'll loose interest, and it'll die just like my Spirited Away fic did. sigh Well, hopefully not! If so, I'll have my friend bash me in the head, as I see him everyday and he's a TOS fanatic. laughs Well continue to RxR. I look forward to your comments. _

Ahro


	3. Date II

SPOILERS

Expiry Dates

_Before I leave this world I, want to see it spin from out there,_

_Watch the colours swirl before we blow it into shades of black and gray_

_No wings and no gates, just skill testing questions and expiry dates_

.:Date II:.

The ride through the miserably gray city was long. The contraption the two rode was called a motorbike, as the newly introduced, Eve, mentioned. She seemed to take pride in the two-wheeled vehicle. Her partner, Dolsolus, rode a somewhat similar motorbike, only the front and rear wheels were small and the body of the bike rested on strange legs that connected to the wheels. At times the bike seemed to take on a hovering type mode. Eve had explained that her model was made a few centuries ago but her love of Gaia's past was to great to simply allow it to die.

Continuing on through the vastly deserted city, Kratos inquired about the strange leave of absence of other life forms such as themselves.

"The Brine is a race of humans who only exist for themselves, and enjoy solitude. We're not a very happy people."

"You refer to the Brine as we. You're considered Brine? You don't seem to only care for yourself, or very much enjoy solitude. You seem more adventurous and happy." A slight giggle escaped the latter.

"Well, when you grew up with grand parents who knew of what Gaia lost and still could somehow regain, you don't really turn out to be all depressed. I'm one of the luckier ones." At this final comment from Eve, they pulled up along side a tall building, roughly two stories. It appeared just as bleak and dismal as every other building in the dreary city let off. Technologically advanced as the city appeared, the dark mechanical, heartless outlook didn't leave much for the imagination.

Parking the vehicles along side the building, they all got off and headed for the entrance. Eve walked up first to the building and rolling up the sleeve on her right arm she revealed a strange socket right in the joint of her arm. Suddenly out of nowhere a long wire with some strange spike at the end of it flew from above the door and before Kratos could question what was going on, the wire plugged itself into Eve's arm. With a slight wince from her it quickly flew out once again, blood trailing it as it returned to the top of the door.

"_Brine #02723041700, Eve Merlos, confirmed. Access Granted._"

The door before them quickly broke, as if glass, and flew about behind them, reforming themselves into it's original form. What had originally been the barren street behind them, quickly disappeared as a strange wavy view of the interior of the building suddenly surrounded the small group. The view soon cleared as a strange veil of liquid air rose up off of them and out of thin air they were surrounded by a small group of people.

"Bought time you arrived. We had begun to worry." Stated the closest male as he walked up to Eve and gave her a hug.

"You worried about me?"

"Well, more or less about Dolsolus but take it however you want. This whole thing is completely new to us, how were we suppose to know." She smiled at the mans reply and before she could say anything more a tall man with a strange flashing gizmo on his head came running out to join the group.

"Search! What's up?"

"You have to see it! The computers are going nuts. The information we're receiving is completely foreign." He said trying to regain his composure. He turned and ran down the hall he had original came from. With a worried look Eve followed suite, in close tow was the remainder of the group of five who they had yet to meet.

"This could be bad."

"What's wrong?"

"Search is our computer genius. And can decipher anything and everything. But if he's run into something he's not blatantly familiar with, then there could be trouble." With that, Dolsolus ran after the crew.

With a shake of his head, Kratos quietly followed after the disappearing group. _"What have I gotten myself into?"_

Upon reaching the inner room, Kratos winced and stepped back from the strange light. The room was basked in a strange red florescent light. As his eyes adjusted he was able to take in his surroundings. Wires hung throughout the air, flashing monitors of strange images and words could be seen flying diagonally across the screens. The room was cluttered with boxes of different sizes and a large assortment of bottles. Kratos guessed they contained some sort of alcoholic beverage as the smell clung to the thick air.

Moving forward into the room, Kratos joined the group as they hovered around Search. This particular screen had nothing on it at all. Closer inspection of everyone around him showed they were all wearing some strange device. A contraption of metal and wires that clung to one side of there heads, with an arm that reached out over there right eye with a tiny screen that seemed to be projecting some sort of beams into each ones eyes.

"I can't read any of it. And it's flying left to right rather than our diagonal script. I can't decipher it. I've tried everything." Search said heatedly.

Kratos cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to bother you all, but what is it you're all looking at?" He questioned the group. They all looked around at him which caught him off guard as there eyes were all strangely dilated almost to the point of there being no iris at all. And then on each ones right eye the pupil had gone completely white as the beams from the strange screen in front of there eyes dashed in and out.

"Oh. Didn't even realize you had brought someone in along with you, Eve. Here." Search stood up with another strange headset and some sort of rod thing with an oval shaped socket at the top, which contained a strange red dot on the inside of it.

"Wait!" Eve quickly jumped from her original seat next to Search and ran over to Search before he reached Kratos.

"What is it?"

"Let me handle it, Search. You get back to work on trying to figure out what it says. By stepping away, you're simply allowing more time to be wasted." She said with a grin to her friend as she took the headset and rod away from him.

"Ahh, yeah sure." He stated strangely and returned to his seat in front of the screen. Eve took up Kratos's arm and led him away into the room directly across from the computer lab.

"What are you doing?" He stated as he rested his arm away from her grip.

"Sorry, it's just, your eyes. If you hadn't picked up on it earlier, no one in our group has any sort of colour to their iris. They're all different shades of gray. If Search had gone and administered the UIV to you, and saw your brown eyes, well… there would be a lot of questions flying around. And I'm not sure how Search or any of the others would react to seeing someone with coloured eyes. Odds are they would experiment on you. First they'd find that trans-bug I placed on you first and it would just go downhill from there." She said as she placed the headset down on the nightstand next to the bed.

"I could have taken care of myself had it come to that."

"Heh, well, I can give you that that I don't know what you're capable of. But I can assure you if you're still out of shape like you were back on your moon, then our technology would have arrested your movements pretty easily and you wouldn't be able to do much from there. It's best that you keep your true self well hidden so we can get out of here and try to find out what is going to happen." She explained as she fiddled with the strange rod. With a final click a beam shot from the inner circle and with another click it went away.

"Alright. We're use to this but since you've never had a UIV administered to you, it may hurt."

"Wait, what exactly is a UIV?" Kratos questioned as she slowly approached him.

"Oh, it's a Universal Iye Vector system. It dilates your pupils and sends a red laser beam back onto your cornea and it inscribes a set of lines along your cornea so this," She picked up the headset from the stand, "your standard Iye Receptor or IR, can then send in it's own white beams which pick up special wave lights from the UIR, or the Universal Iye Rail. The UIR is Gaia's information highway. Everything goes through it, and every Brine on this planet can read it by use of a UIV. We're specialists in the field of UIV technology though. Or more like hackers. The Leads put the system together and ran its channels through out the core of Gaia which allows its reach to stretch to every city and town on Gaia."

"And what is it that Search is unable to read in there?"

"Well, it seems with Derris-Kharlan's disruption of the eastern boarder, the moon's own frequency waves traveled into the UIR and we're now seeing whatever it is your moons waves are. Although you may be able to help us in this, once you can read it." She walked up closer to him, he stepped back.

"You should probably take a seat on the bed. We're all use to it, as we've done it on ourselves for years now, but for you since it's your first time, it may hurt."

"What good is this going to do if I can read it or not? It could be meaningless."

"So it's meaningless to try to do anything and everything we can to save the universe?"

"What did you say! Since when is this whole thing suddenly revolving around the universe?"

"You're forgetting that your moon-"

"Stop calling it my moon for gods sake!"

Eve stepped back shocked at the man's sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry. It's just. I was ready to die back there and then all of a sudden I run into the fact that I have to save… ugh. Nevermind. Just do what you have to do and get it over with." He said as he finally cooperated and took a seat on the bed.

With a quiet nod she walked up to him. Taking the rod she placed the cup of it over his right eye. "Don't close your eye. Just stare at the red dot on the inside." She instructed. He did as he was told, and shutting his left eye he starred at the blinding red dot that faced the other. "Ready?" She questioned.

"Go ahead." And at Kratos's word there was a click of the rod and the red dot shot forth through his pupil quickly widening it and escaping to the inside of his eye. Kratos winced at the alien intrusion. The pain was excruciating but he refused to show it vocally. But his motions proved otherwise. Eve had been ready for the familiar reaction she had seen go through anyone who went through their first stages of the UIV scripter. She had already positioned herself behind Kratos on the bed, and allowed him to fall into her on the first entrance. Kratos had no idea she had been propping him up during the whole procedure. His thoughts were to focused on the pain in his eye. It felt as if someone had just taken a long, thick, sharp needle and plunged it through his eye and to the back of his skull.

The red dot soon disappeared and it was replaced by a black light. This seemed cooler, and it slowly ebbed the pain away and as it slowly retracted, Eve pulled away the rod from his eye and he was sent into a pitch-black room.

"Are you alright?" She asked him. His hand had gone straight to his eye to check for damage. Your usual human instinct. He nodded slightly.

"I'll survive. Why is it so dark?"

"I turned off the light right before I put the scripter on. Otherwise the bright light would simply erase what the scripter just did. Now, can you stand?" He nodded again as he made a movement to stand when he suddenly realized Eve had been sitting behind him the whole time. He finally got up, a little shaky on his feet but no worry of losing his balance. His hand then went to his wrist that for some reason had begun to hurt slightly as his brain began to peel away from the one shot of pain to the next.

"Oh, sorry about that. I sort of had to hold you still. Normally we do this in this special chair we had set up in the computer lab, but since everyone was there, they would have found it rather strange if you had reacted as you did."

"What do you mean? I think everyone would act that way if they felt like they were having a needle being jammed into their eye."

"Well you see… every Brine on Gaia is put through the scripter, but it's administered while they're children, about the age of three. If they had seen you act as you did, they would again think something was wrong with you, as no one, especially at your age, would react like that. To us now, it simply feels like a small prick of the finger."

"A small prick of the finger, huh." He said not believing a word she said, as the pain had been so much, he couldn't possibly think of doing it more than once.

"Okay, well, I think we're ready. Here." She got up off the bed and walked over to him. Taking the headset she placed it on his head and pushing a button the arm came out of the side and rested in front of his right eye. Three white beams suddenly entered his eye and started flying in and out and in different directions through his pupil. This didn't hurt though. It simply felt like cold water rushing into his eye and relaxing the muscles.

"Now you're all set to see what we see. Come on." She then led the way out of the room and back into the computer lab.

"Hey, welcome back. What the hell were you doing in there? All we could hear was the bed squeaking." Search initiated. The group around him was sent into whispered giggles.

"Oh grow up. How old are we all, ten? Jeez." She said agitatedly. She then moved through the crowd, and took a seat next to Search once again. "Figure anything out from it?" She questioned. Search then went into a spiel on what he thought the strange glyphs meant. Kratos on the other hand studied the familiar writing with a smile. He knew that writing anywhere. It was the angelic writing he had come to know very well, although some of, he guessed the Brine's language had mixed into it slightly, disrupting parts of the message. Kratos remained silent throughout the whole process.

After much heated discussion on what it all meant, the group slowly began to take off to there own private quarters in the building.

"Well, I think it's about time we called it a night. Even my eyes need time to recharge." He said with a grin to Eve as she let out a yawn.

"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning. Good night." She gave him a hug goodnight and he left down the hall.

"Well, I'd say it is a good time to retire for the night. I'll show you your room. Are you hungry at all? I can bring something up for you." She questioned as the two got up to head to the bedrooms.

"No, I should be fine, thank you. I appreciate your hospitality." He said.

"Oh, it's not a problem. I appreciate you coming here. Of course it might mean the end of the universe, but at least I was able to see a being of colour like yourself." She said with a grin as she flicked a strange switch on the wall which shutdown everything in the room and sent it into darkness.

The two walked along the hall with a quaint awkward silence mixing around between them. Finally, upon reaching the end of the hall she came to two rooms on either side of them.

"This is my room. You'll be sleeping in this one here." She gestured to the opposing room from her own. "The bathroom is down here and to the right, opposite the staircase." She pointed out in turn. "If you grow hungry, the kitchen is adjacent to the hall with the bathroom."

"You mean to tell me, I can walk around here freely. Aren't you afraid I might escape?"

A smile graced her lips at his reply. "I trust you won't leave. You don't really have anywhere to go. And you don't know how to remove the trans-bug. So you won't be able to access your specials, if you have any. And if you're remotely interested in returning to the chain of Symphonia, then odds are you'll stay with us without much protest."

"Heh, you're quiet sure of yourself aren't you. What if there was a ship back on Derris-Kharlan I knew of and used that to escape?"

"You wouldn't."

"How do you know I wouldn't?"

"The Regas are built to find the most hidden of secrets in anything, that's how the Brine, even with their skills of hiding in the shadow, can not out hide the Regas abilities. So if there were anything on Derris-Kharlan, they would have found it by now. Not only that, but how do you intend on getting back to the site. You don't know how to operate any of our vehicles, and your wings are suspended. It seems you're stuck with us." She said with a grin. "But you've fallen into good hands. Right now the Leads are simply studying everything they can from your strange purple moon. They haven't even realized what is happening to the mirror even as we speak." She shook her head in disgust.

"There is a mirror that surrounds the sun?" Kratos questioned. Eve nodded in reply.

"Yes, but now's not the time to explain about that. If you can't wait to find out what Gaia is all about then feel free to pick up some literature in your room. It'll explain everything about Gaia's past and it's current state. There are some books that do mention what could possibly happen if one or all of Gaia's moons, the chain of Symphonia, were to collide with Gaia. That's what we believe will happen after this cataclysm. Hopefully our theories are false." She said with a sigh. "Well goodnight." She said with a grin and turned to her room and closed and locked the door behind her.

Kratos stood in the dark hall for a few seconds contemplating what Eve had just told him. Then turning to enter his own room he came across what looked to be there storage room. Although it was a bedroom, containing a dresser, bed, and nightstand, it also seemed to be holding an assortment of boxes, all packed with numerous electronic parts. Most of it looked like scrap metal. Kratos skipped over all of this, as his knowledge of their technology was far different from what he was familiar with. He then moved along to a bookshelf, which was found behind a heap of old blankets. Skimming over the bindings, surprised to find they were all written in the common language, he came across a book simply titled Gaia's Past, Present, and Future.

He sat down on the bed and began reading. In summary of it all it seemed over two centuries ago the planet known as Gaia use to be known as Earth. It was a beautiful planet, full of life, vegetation, oceans, and most importantly (as mentioned in the book) colours. Life went along as much as life could go on. Sure battles were fought, some were won, and some were lost. Devastation racked the planet but life continued to live on even in it's trials. As the humans slowly begun to realize what they were doing was destroying their precious planet, nothing could have prepared them for what was to become the true destruction of there world and every other planet in there solar system.

The original sun which was simply a huge burning ball of gaseous fumes from the atmosphere finally had reached it's life expectancy, and simply blew up completely destroying all life through out the Milky way galaxy. The universe was sent into a period of ice and forever freezing winter. Without the suns gravity pulls the planets orbits were completely thrown askew. The meteorite belt lost its continuous rotation and the larger stones flew in around the original planets forming new moons. But with Earth's original stasis compared to the other planets was rich and fertile. The strange atmosphere that surrounded the Earth that the other planets lacked began to form like ice. A giant ice like barrier that soon became a giant absorption of light and heat from the stars hundreds of million light years away from the galaxy, swelled up around the planet at the same height as the original atmosphere had rested and became like a wall keeping everything out, and everything else in. As the planet absorbed more and more, and the glass ice became thick and solid, and mixing with the chemicals from the surface of the planet and the hydrogen filled atmosphere above it created a solid sheet of reflexive glass, which the Brine now call the Mirror.

The mirror allowed some of the stars heat to escape and travel down to the surface of the planet. It soon warmed it up enough to help bring back life to the desolate world. Humans started over once again from their level one life forms and evolved to what they refer to themselves today as the Brine.

Unfortunately, for the life forms now living on the newly born Gaia, they would never be able to see colour in their world except for the bright multi-coloured moons and stars above them.

Brine's refer to themselves as such rather than humans due to there lack of colour and pigmentation between them all and everything in their new world. Without the suns natural light, pigmentation in this new breed of humans was left out of their genetic code allowing for them all to have either pure white skin down to black skin. There hair remaining the same. Either pure white to shades of gray to black. Eye colour was the same way. This colour scheme went for every life form on the planet as well as the ground, sky, rock, and mineral. Their world was set in a world of spiraling shades of gray.

The book continued on stating what the Brine's current livings were like. And finally it reached the point of what the Brine all feared. The chain of Symphonia would continue to circle Gaia but for some reason, with it being so close to Gaia and what with the original sun never having it's own moons kept the Brine in a constant state of confusion whether the core of Gaia would be to strong and pull them towards the sun or it would remain to slack and they would have free reign of where they moved.

The theories that the Occulants came out with was that if at least one of the moons struck the mirror, it would of course break the mirror either completely shattering the entire thing across the planet, or it would simply break in the current place it entered. If the latter happened, all life would be wiped out once more what with out heat and light. Or if only the moon shattered a section of it, the mirror would continue to give off light and heat but the stars light upon hitting the surface of Gaia would quickly eat and burn away at the soft interior layer as it would be far to strong for it. Only for the latter would there be any chance on fixing anything before complete devastation occurred. How, the book couldn't state as they hadn't run into that problem yet.

Kratos rested the book down in his lap as he tried to take all of what he had just read. It was mind-boggling and at this sleep completely evaporated into the air as he stood up and walked to the door. No way was he going to sleep after reading something like that.

His intentions brought him to the computer lab. Finding the switch Eve had original shut off, ignited the room into movement as the lights all flickered on and the computers all hummed awake. Grabbing a chair and a headset he flicked on the mechanism, which allowed him to view the screen before him. The same angelic glyphs flew by with a mixture of the Brine's apparent computer language as well. Finding a notebook and a pen, he started to write down what the glyphs he could pick out said.

It felt like three hours had passed as he glared at what he had written. It looked like gibberish to his strained eyes after trying to decipher the text for so long a period that he didn't even hear the quiet footsteps advancing down the hall.

"I didn't think you'd be sleeping." Came Eve's soft voice from the doorway. Kratos turned his head to see Eve walk into the room and with a stretch took up a seat next to him. "How goes it?"

"Well, those glyphs Search couldn't read earlier. Well, they're angelic writing. I can read it but because it's mixed all up with your own language, it's hard to analyze it." He explained going back to the screen. Eve took up the sheet of paper, which he had been writing on.

"Hmm… Angel Precinct Category 5. Studies. Solar. The Race. Travel. Failure. Scyopse Systems. Outlook Pos. that's it?" Kratos nodded in respond.

"I don't know. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me."

"Well, I figure this division known as Angel Precinct Category 5 was studying either the solar system and they found other races. Either they, the Precinct, tried to travel to them but failed or the other life forms failed to travel to them. Or they might have been trying to study the sun, as solar can also reference solar energy from the sun. Meaning they might have found something dealing along your race of the Brine. I have no idea what the Scyopse systems are or what the Outlook Pos means though."

"Well, you have a good idea, at least I think you're onto something. At least you can read it. That's one big step up from where we were. By the time Search even came up with a letter the mirror would probably have completely shattered by now." She said as she rested the paper down on the table once more and got herself comfortable in the seat.

"But it's only an idea, nothing more. It's neither a question nor an answer. We've only gotten slightly farther. Maybe I can pick something else out." He said as he continued to stare at the screen. Eve nodded even though he didn't see her reply. Kratos sighed as he went back to his research. He was actually rather glad Eve had woken up and came down to check on him. He had grown slightly restless and with the comfort of someone else near by allowed him to relax slightly. His nerves had been shot ever since landing here and she was able to bring him some strange sort of comfort he hadn't felt in years. He was almost amazed at himself at the flood of emotions he felt while here. Maybe the change in atmosphere actually did something good for him; rather than destroy him as he saw was happening to these people.

It wasn't very long before the quiet sounds of sleep had fallen over Eve as she slept in the chair, close to falling off. Kratos drew his eyes away from the ever-flowing texts across the screen to rest on the sleeping form of Eve. She seemed almost child like sleeping in the chair, struggling to stay on. He hadn't found a new word or phrase since Eve had come into the room, as all the angelic writing seemed to be deteriorating from the screen, perhaps because Derris-Kharlan was dying?

Getting up from his seat he walked over to the sleeping form and lifting her up. She made a noise at the sudden movement and cuddled up against his chest and went on sleeping. Kratos a little taken aback by this sudden movement ignored it and went to the wall, flicked the light with his elbow and walked up to Eve's room. Entering the room he soon found the bed as the headset was still on and it seemed to aid in seeing in the dark. Resting the sleeping girl down on the bed he retreated out of the room quietly only before he shut the door two words escaped her lips.

"…green…grass…" Came the sleeping voice.

"You'll see green grass soon enough." He said with a gentle smile as he shut the door. The thought then dawned on him. How he and the rest of his home had taken colours for granted. The thought of living in a world of nothing but shades of gray and still knowing there is something brighter out there that your own world is giving to other life forms. It saddened Kratos and also improved his determination to return to his home. And return home with more than just himself to help save the universe. He would show these people, the true lives they should be living and could live now that their wall had been broken.

_Author's Note:_

_Yes, again, another story that took me a long time to update. I sort of lost interest as I ran into the greatness that is Phantom of the Opera. I just recently started to play Tales of Symphonia again and I instantly wanted to write the story again. I still have all of my ideas for this story intact so I should be able to continue with it, hopefully._

_In Date I the Regas names I took from the anime Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. They're the warlord's names in the English version. I'm more familiar with the English version of the show than the Japanese version so the masho's names were left out._

_In this chapter you've found out about Gaia's past and what that was all about. I'm actually rather surprised with how that whole technical thing is working out. It's all-true and could possibly happen, not really, but possibly. shrugs Anyways, please C&C and tell me your thoughts._

_Ahro_


	4. Date III

SPOILERS

Expiry Dates

_Before I leave this world I, want to see it spin from out there,_

_Watch the colours swirl before we blow it into shades of black and gray_

_No wings and no gates, just skill testing questions and expiry dates_

.:Date III:.

Pulling into Palmacosta was just as busy and hectic as always. The hustle and bustle of this city rarely let up, due to it's high sea trade coming and going from port to port, and then with your local vendors, harking their wares and distributing their goods and services. It was always a highlight traveling to this city. Meltokio also held its promising side of excitement but not even their coliseum could bring as much excitement to the young man as the seaport did.

"Breath in that salty air, Noishe. It's been a long time since we've come here." Lloyd was greeted with a happy yip as they weaved in and out of the crowd together.

Off in the distance stood the newly erected observatory. It's towering presence even out weighed the city hall in which the newly elected Mayor Neil resigned. He had taken up office not to long after Dorr's passing. The city felt that since he was so close to General Dorr and knew his way around politics well, they held an election, and he won it. His first addition to the new city was the Observatory, where the highly esteemed astrologist, Zed Jenkins, took up work on studying the other planets, moons, and the sun. What with the knowledge of Tethe'alla and Derris-Kharlan suddenly springing up on the citizens of Sylvarant, interests were peaked in wanting to learn about these worlds that just sat slightly adjacent from their own. It was a spectacle of the ages.

"Alright, Noishe. I won't be long. You hang around here to a little bit. Please don't bother anyone." He said patting the large 'dog' on the side. Noishe yelped happily and walked over to the shady grassy area along side the road. Turning away from the playful animal, Lloyd Irving entered the huge building.

The inside was certainly something. The exterior of the building was one thing, but to walk inside was like walking into another world all together. Traveling with the legendary summoner, Sheena, proved quiet useful after she revealed to Sylvarant the power of Volt. Volt, the summon spirit of lightning, showed to the people of Sylvarant that their old methods of using coal for fuel and candles for lighting were simply far behind the times. Showing them the power of electricity and wind power proved most useful as the Sylvarantians soon put Volt's suggestions to good use as they quickly built up windmills throughout the countryside allowing for electrical power to surge through their newly created wiring system to light up peoples houses, and properly work the mechanics that worked the massive telescope to view the heavens.

Besides the electrical lamps and machinery. The brilliant flashing lights, sounds, and sights simply overwhelmed anyone stepping into the building. And in the summer times, the newly introduced cooling system was spell binding after coming in from the heat and suddenly being hit with a cool, icy, breeze. But it seemed like the building was always cold even in the winter times. Apparently with all of the computer systems, and monitoring systems, the building needed to stay cool for fear of overheating and loosing precious data.

"Hey, where's Zed at?"

"Up on the bridge as always." Said a young lady who, with clip board in hand, was reviewing a readout that was being printed from one of the large computers along the wall.

"Thanks." Lloyd waved to the friendly help and moved at a trot over to the spiraling staircase in the far back of the building which brought you up to the bridge and the giant telescope.

"Hey, Zed!" Lloyd hollered up the stairs as he skipped up them two at a time.

"Hey, hey! How's my favorite adventurer. Feel that shake after the sun blew?" Zed exclaimed. He was a tall man, standing roughly 6'5" and rather big muscled as well. He was certainly not someone you would take as being in the astrological field. He wore a tight, white, wife beater shirt and black baggy pants. His lab coat he wore open and it hung loosely over his muscular shoulders. Around his neck dawned a lanyard, complete with his ID tag, as well as a set of dog tags he kept with him at all times. He explained that while his grandparents raised him, they held onto the dog tags of their friends who had died in combat. His grandfather always held onto his friends' dog tags along with his own. So, Zed followed the tradition, and showed them off proudly in order to keep their memories alive.

"That was the sun that blew? It couldn't have blown up, or we would be in total darkness right now." Lloyd stated coming up along side the strong man.

"You're right about that one. But take a look at this." He moved Lloyd under the telescope's eyepiece. "Remember how bright the sun was with the cast over the lens before that strange occurrence." Zed began. The cast that was placed over the lens was used in studying the sun. Since starring directly at the sun would burn out your retina this cast was used to dim the light of the sun.

Lloyd nodded in reply.

"Well, does it look any different?"

"Yeah, it does slightly. It isn't as bright as it was originally." Lloyd halted in his observations, "Wait, a sec. That looks like-"

"A spot. Yes?" Zed interrupted.

"Yeah. What could have caused that?"

"Derris-Kharlan." Lloyd jerked away from the eyepiece and starred up at Zed.

"What?" Lloyd said exasperatedly. He was now standing, and his eyes were wide.

"I've been following Derris-Kharlan's track ever since it separated from us 4 years ago. I'm sorry for having blurted out the answer, but you had to know sooner or later what had caused that and I know how pesky you are about someone holding secrets from you." He paused as he watched Lloyd drop his head and suddenly take a great interest in the people walking around below them. "I'm… sorry… about your father."

"No. It can't be. It could have just been a giant, meteor, or something." Lloyd said hurriedly as he glared up at the towering man before him.

Zed shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. They're haven't been any sightings of any sort of threatening meteor around us since this observatory was erected." He stopped once more upon Lloyd's lowering of his head again. "But if you think about it, he's with your mother now."

"NO! He can't be gone! I had hoped he would somehow come back to us." Lloyd screamed angrily as he pushed past Zed and ran down the stairs and upon reaching the third rung leapt over the side and ran from the building.

Zed let out a sigh as he watched the iron doors slam behind the fiery youth. Turning back to the giant telescope before him he took a look back up at the sun. The spot had grown larger since his last sure look at it. "Aurion. Why did you leave him? You were always so hung up on your failures that you never noticed your successes, even when they stood right in front of you."

A bark escaped Noishe's muzzle as he ran after the young man before him.

"Damn you. Damn you, Dad. And after that long adventurer with you, I only learned near the end you were my true father. And then you just up and leave me, only to get yourself killed." He cursed as he ran towards a parked rheaird, which would take him to Dirk's House, and to his mother's grave. Hopping on it and starting it up, he raised it into the air and took off back across the sea to the tiny continent in the south. Whipping away hot tears that threatened to spill down his face he looked up at the sun, not caring much about his vision, he took in how the sun had truly grown duller. "You had to go out with a bang too, didn't ya. Crashing a planet into the sun."

Noishe watched sadly from the shore at the retreating rheaird. With a whine he looked over to the city he had just run to and walking back to it, he figured the best thing to do was to just wait for his companion to return. His ears perked up at the thought of Zed.

_"Zed always takes good care of me when Lloyd is away."_ The giant 'dog' barked to himself happily as he trotted back to the city and to the shady spot next to the observatory.

………………

Kratos woke the next morning to the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen. He yawned and gave a stretch. Standing up from the bed he walked over to the window and raised the curtain. He was shocked to see the outside world so dark and only lit by a faint glow of the moons and the fake light coming from the street lamps along the road. He had forgotten where he was and then considered the fact that he had actually slept. Maybe it was this dark atmosphere that brought him to a sleep filled with dreams. He wasn't use to sleep as he was an angelic being, sleep wasn't necessary, along with many other human qualities which were needed to sustain life.

Going to the dresser, he found a white button down collared shirt, which was clean and pressed, apparently forgotten about. He then went to take off the shirt Eve had bestowed upon him after masking his original outfit only to be caught off guard as the garment clung to his being. Loose as it was, it refused to be taken off.

"What is this all about?" He questioned strangely. Deciding he would bring it up to Eve later he returned the shirt to the dresser and left the room to find a dully-lit hallway before him. The kitchen itself shown brightly as a shadow was cast on the wall in the hall. There was a voice coming from the computer lab further down the hall as well. He again was shocked to find that the people of this household had woken before him, as it was always unusual for, if he did end up sleeping, he would always find himself having to wake up those around him to continue their journey. The journey that he went on to help regenerate the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla soon brought him back to memories of his son he had left back on Sylvarant. And how the last words he spoke had ended with his parental name, 'Dad'.

With a sad grimace to himself at having left him, again, he made his way down the hall only to be greeted by a cheerful looking Eve.

"Hungry? I cooked bacon and eggs. But if you would like anything else, by all means, ask. You're our guest." She said happily as she stirred around the scrambled eggs in the frying pan that she held before him.

"Ahh… I'm not that hungry." She starred at him, slightly concerned, but shrugged and returned to the stove. He glanced around at his surroundings as he took a seat at the table. The kitchen wasn't overly furnished. The walls were all built around a central window in the wall. Below the window rested the sink and to the right of that was a single countertop, which allowed the stove to come next, followed by the wall. On the opposite side of the sink there were counters once again and the icebox rested up against the opposite wall. The round table he was seated at was in the center of the room. The kitchen was rather clean besides the few pots and pans that Eve had been using to prepare breakfast. It almost looked like a feast was being prepared, even thought the contents of it all rounded around eggs, bacon, toast, sausages, pancakes, omelets, oatmeal, and cold cereal.

"Does everyone that was hear last night live here as well?" He questioned as the large amount of food looked to be enough to feed twelve hungry mouths.

"Hmm… oh, no. This apartment only houses Dolsolus, Search, and myself. The guys came over early to make sure everything was running properly on the ship before we take off." She explained not looking around as she finished another omelet.

"A ship?"

"Uh huh. Called the Triet. She's the latest in technology that the Occulants have released to the public, as well as a few of our own devices added in." She said with a smile as she flicked a switch on the wall and then walked back to the table. She took a seat on the opposite side of the table and began to chew on a slightly burnt piece of toast.

"Where were you planning on going with this Triet of yours?" Kratos had figured the answer before she even spoke, but it was only for his reassurance.

"Why to the chain of Symphonia of course. We need to try to save the universe, don't we?" She said with a grin as she took another bite of the toast. Just then a small ball came whizzing into the room and hovered above the different plates of food, which were laid out along the counter tops. As it went over each one the plate and food zipped up into the small ball and before Kratos could even get another word out to what the thing was, it had already whizzed back out the door and flew down another hall that rested along the backside of the staircase which he hadn't realized was there originally.

Eve noticed Kratos's slight change in facial expression at the intrusion of the small floating ball so she brought up the subject. "Nano technology. It's our highest achievement in the ways of technology. Microscopic computers that can be shaped and formed into whatever you want and do whatever you want. They're extremely handy. Although this household refuses to use them in the ways other people use them. Chores should be carried out by the actual inhabitants who created the need for a chore, not the nano-bugs." She explained continuing to nibble on her food.

"Yes, well… back to the ship. I would like to know your plans as to how you will be getting off the surface of this planet. You mentioned those… Regas, was it… were a problem."

"Hey, hey! Eve! Your bacon and eggs are top notch. You never fail to make them taste like the real thing." Came a boisterous voice from the doorway as the large man came in and patted Eve on the back heartily.

"Well I hope so. I'm only working with tofu." Kratos then eyed the toast she had been working on eating. It was all made out of tofu. Had they over-eaten all the animals to extinction? Or had animals just failed to prosper on this new world?

"Oh, didn't even realize you were still here." Search inquired as he starred down at Kratos. Kratos looked up at him only to quickly look away at the remembrance of his eye colour and what Eve had told him would happen should anyone notice. He hadn't pulled his face away to quickly though, as he was able to get a good look at the man's own eyes as well.

"Well, I'm off. The guys say they should be ready soon and I wanted to check out how the command deck is looking. You'll be down soon Eve?"

"Yeah. Where's Dolsolus? He had better be working."

"Oh, he's down there alright. He's just as excited as the rest of us to get off of this barren planet."

"You do realize this isn't just a fun little trip. We need to actually figure out how we're going to fix the mirror and keep Gaia's light from failing. You know the consequences of that just as everyone else here." She stated as she finished her toast.

"Heh, yeah. But it can't hurt to check out the sites a little. I'm sure you'll be just as excited to see colours." He said with great satisfaction in his voice. Eve shied away from this statement, but gave a nod and a slightly shaky smile to her friend. He patted her on the back once more and the big man walked off down the hall and around the stairwell. As soon as his footsteps could no longer be heard, Kratos took the incentive to speak.

"He's blind."

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Well, we're all blind. Since the Brine's were born into a world of darkness, the rods of our eyes became far more numerous then the usual human eye. With there usually being 6 to 7 million cones in our eyes, there is actually in the Brine's eye only 3 to 4 million. Because our world was always in darkness, our eyes adapted to allow us far better vision in darkness. What good are cones if there is no light to show colour."

"But you have created light. How can there not be any sort of colour to this world?"

"Light equals colour. With no light, there is no colour. Our falsely created light should bring out colours, but because no natural light ever touched the interior layer of Gaia not a single atom in our world gained any pigmentation. So it remained only shades of gray. You see it, do you not? Even with your eyes having the normal amount of rods and cones, you still do not see colour in our world, even if you are standing under the brightest lamp pole on the street." She explained casually.

"So you have excellent night vision, but when it comes to being in actual light you're blind." Kratos said trying to figure it all out.

"Blind, yes, for a time." She finally moved into. Kratos looked at her slightly confused. "Due to our technological advances, we were able to create a special type of lens that fits onto our cornea which then allows us to see in light. It also changes how our eyes look. Instead of the iris and pupil being a faint shade of gray, the lens allows us to have a defined iris of any shade of gray and a black pupil. Much like yours, only again, with no colour."

"I see. But then when you stepped into the green house on Derris-Kharlan you could see everything in colour?"

"Yes. I saw everything in colour, only since your light source in that place was a fake sun it didn't harm me, but since all of the foliage and plant life were real and had been under natural Gaian light, I could see their true colours."

"True light hurts you? How do you know this if everything you have on your planet is false?"

"It's only a theory, but with some literature we were able to uncover from the past world, it seems that due to our lack of cones in our eyes it would untimely bring about an overload for the smaller number of light receptors which would undoubtedly… destroy us." She explained finally standing up from her seat and moving to the counter to begin clearing the dishes. "I don't feel like talking about this anymore. If you're still not hungry, feel free to take the stairs down to the basement. There is where our warehouse is stored and you'll find the Triet housed there. It should be to your liking." She finally finished as she began to wash dishes.

Knowing better than to start any more questions, or to even try to comfort her, he turned from his seat and headed in the direction she had indicated.

He knew one thing. Eve wanted to see colour. But it soon came about that she wasn't the only one fearing the thing they wanted most.

Upon entering the warehouse he was greeted by an overly excited Dolsolus.

"Hey! Glad you finally woke up. Well, what do you think? She's a butte, isn't she?" The young man exclaimed excitedly as he bounced around before the giant ship. It was quiet breathtaking. Kratos had never seen anything like this. The ship almost resembled a rheaird only where you would normally sit out in the open, had been enclosed. It had two pairs of wings rather than one pair and where the cockpit rested, a head of a dragon seemed to dawn it. At least it resembled a dragon's head.

"It's very interesting." Kratos said blatantly. Looking the ship up and down. He then observed the hanger they were all standing in. It was huge and to think this massive structure was below ground level. Even though the city above was huge, it seemed that below was even larger, almost as if the city had been flipped over and the actual life lived below it rather than a top of it.

"It flies?"

"Does it fly? The new guy wants to know whether she can fly!" Dolsolus cried out to the hatch that sat open on the dragon's head. The man inside laughed as he said some strange voice command and the wings retracted from the ground and instantly went into a hover mode. Kratos was amazed that something of this size was even able to get up off the ground, let alone remain immobile about 100 feet off the ground. "She's only hovering now. You should see her move. The only thing that can top her speed is Sinaider's Anubis Rega. And that thing is a piece of work. It can't fly, but its speed on land is amazing. It can reach up to 250mph. Triet here can max out 280, but it's also in flight with no obstacles in the way." Dolsolus explained. Kratos nodded as this array of statistics. It seemed in this world that speed was taken as a great asset as everything seemed to move quickly. You'd think a world with no day or night would move slowly. Well Gaia turned out to be the exact opposite.

"Eve's coming down. Everyone on board Triet. We're heading out!" Search cried from a side room along the far wall.

"Well come on. You're coming to, right?" He then lowered his voice slightly so as no one who might possibly run by them would over hear. "You are from there, correct? From the worlds of colour."

Kratos nodded at this statement. With a grin, Dolsolus ran off up the ramp that lead up into the body of the giant ship, leaving Kratos standing in the midst of the chaos that reigned.

A voice came over the intercom and rang through the building, again telling Kratos to get aboard. He then finally began to move towards the ramp only to suddenly be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"STOP OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY!" Eve yelled throughout the hanger. Triet instantly was shutdown and the iridescent lights that filtered the hanger were shut off and backup lights flew on.

A low rumble could suddenly be heard above their heads. Something large had stopped above their underground warehouse, and it sounded angry.

"What's going on?" Kratos said in a whisper to Eve who hung next to him. She was so close to him that he could even feel her shake slightly from either fear or excitement. He couldn't tell which, but at her next words, he knew exactly what she was feeling.

"Get on the ship and the crew will take care of you. Triet may need to take a sudden lift off." She said, the fear in her voice she tried desperately to cover but it was still seeping through her clenched teeth.

"But what's happening? Where are you going?" He asked her, grabbing her gaze away from the ceiling and onto him. She shook in his grasp as she averted her eyes again after seeing his brilliant maroon eyes. He didn't care for her, but she showed him hospitality, and she saved him from probably being imprisoned and experimented on. He couldn't allow her to face any sort of danger by herself.

"You may be a big help in saving the universe from destruction since you've been here and can relate to your fellows back on the chain to what could happen if your sun goes out. They may believe us, but with you there, our story would be greatly enhanced. I need you to get on the ship, now." She stated again, now looking at his face but keeping her eyes averted from his own gaze. "Now go!" She said with a determined shove as she quickly took the same familiar wand from her pocket and with a downward slash, split the air between them. As soon as the rift had been opened it had been gone again, leaving Kratos standing before empty air.

Scowling he then jogged over to the ramp in which Dolsolus stood at the entrance.

"Where is Eve?" He said angrily, a concerned look on his face.

"She's gone." He said as he passed him and ran towards where he felt was the cockpit.

"She's gone!" Kratos could hear Dolsolus tearing off after him. The cockpit door swung open before Kratos had even reached it and the menacing figure of Search stood before him.

"Get in a seat. We'll be lifting off as soon as the cost is clear." He stated bluntly to Kratos with a stern face that showed absolutely no emotion.

"But what about Eve? She opened a rift and took off. We just can't leave her here."

"Yes we can." He stated as he turned his back on Kratos and walked back to his seat at the controls.

"What are you saying? You can't just leave someone. Is she going to get herself killed?" Kratos demanded of Search. Before he could get out another word, Search had Kratos pinned up along the wall.

"We can leave someone if it means saving hundreds of thousands of lives. All of us have gone through this course. Unfortunately, it was Eve who had to become the decoy." His face softened slightly as he smiled and allowed Kratos away from the wall. He then turned and walked back to his seat. "Don't worry. She's strong. She'll get away." He said finally taking his seat and readied the controls.

Just then Dolsolus entered the cockpit. He had heard the quarrel outside the door and knew exactly what was to happen and that Kratos shouldn't have ever entered that room.

"Come on. We need to get seated." Dolsolus said as he led him out of the cockpit, leaving Search alone.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Kratos started up.

"I don't under-"

"She's his sister." Kratos stopped in mid-sentence at this sudden enlightened news. "They had promised each other when they were children and had lost their parents that no matter what the case was, they would protect each other, no matter what the cost." He paused and let out a sigh. "Even if that cost was one of them loosing the other. Search was determined that he would be the one to save her. Can you imagine the internal struggles he's been set with. I'm sure she figured this would happen and purposefully stayed behind. She always said that Search was a better pilot of the Triet than she would ever be. And if anyone was going to get Triet off of this desolate planet, he would be the one." He said as he shook his head and lowered his gaze.

"You love her. Don't you." Kratos pointed out blankly. Dolsolus's eyes shot up at this remark.

"I have my own promises to keep." He said angrily as he turned his back and headed off down the ship.

Search's voice was then heard over the intercom.

"Everyone please find your seats. It won't be much longer now."

…………………

_"Our lives are of death, and by death we are bound." _A shockwave burst from the roof of the building as skeletal wings surrounded the dark form that rested on the roof. _"Forever a world in darkness and decay, I call upon those forces to hide those we love."_ A rumble rocked through the ground as cracks and fissures opened up along the streets. A howl escaped from the distance as red eyes flashed and the sounds of metal paws struck the rotting ground. _"Come forth now, and share your own decaying life with the light of your eternal offspring!"_ The scream escaped her lips as the final words were spun. A liquid veil had sprouted from the ground along with the Triet; only the liquid masked the massive ship as it soured slowly towards the heavens.

The wings disappeared from Eve's shoulder blades just as the Anubis Regas came into view. The metallic beast roared at the protesting Brine before it. Eve was ready and waiting for this intrusion into their plans. Turning around as fast as her feet would take her, she jumped onto her bike and with a flick of a wrist the bike was sent into motion, and spinning off the two story roof to the soil below. She was to remain a decoy so as Triet and the others were able to get away. The spell she had cast masked all transmissions and debugged all incoming waves so the Triet would be seen by nothing, unfortunately it meant to also slow down it's movement, meaning it's ascent would be slow. She was alone to her own fate now. Luckily the Anubis Regas was unmanned by the Lead, Sinaider; otherwise it would be looking around for the escaping fleet rather than taking off after the running prey.

_"Please save the universe, brother."_

…………………

"There has to be something we can do."

"There is nothing. If there were, we would have done it by now. But look." One of the crewmembers that had been sitting along side Kratos spoke up. He traced his finger in a square along the wall next to him, which instantly opened up to a glass panel, which showed the ground escaping beneath them. "You see. Anubis is already on her tail. Her bike will keep it out of reach as long as she continues to weave as the Regas don't have a high turning radius, but if she doesn't reach the next city barrier soon, it will catch her, and bring her back to Sinaider. There is nothing we can do."

Kratos remained quiet after the man's description of Eve's predicament. He watched as she continued to swerve out of reach of the clamping jaws of the giant mechanical wolf. "No, wait. There is something, I, can do." Kratos immediately stood up and ran off to find Dolsolus. He happened to be in the farthest part of the ship. He had been looking at a picture when Kratos burst into the room.

"What are you doing? You should be seated. As soon as we break the atmosphere we'll be-"

"I need you to remove that trans-bug Eve placed on me."

"What? Why? If anyone sees you the way I saw you, you may be-"

"Just do it. If you care for her, you'll do it." He protested. Dolsolus looked down at the picture in his hands. Clenching his hand into a fist he shot up and walked over to him.

"Alright. But what are you planning on doing?" He stated as he allowed his hand to grace over the top of Kratos's head. Instantly the feeling of a cool substance being lifted from him and the sudden angelic qualities flooded his being.

He watched as Dolsolus squinted as the sudden brilliance of Kratos's navy blue and purple outfit burst from behind the wall of black and gray.

"I plan on saving her." He said as he then walked to the wall of the ship. Doing the same as the other crewmember did to reveal a window, Kratos traced his finger over the wall and instantly a giant door opened up to him. His hair whipped about his face as he looked down on the scene that unfolded below them.

"You can't possibly think you're going to save her by throwing yourself from the Triet. You'll be killed." Kratos refused to listen to Dolsolus's protests as he then jumped from the side of the Triet and plummeted towards the giant Anubis Regas and the escaping motorbike. Dolsolus watched in amazement as the purple and blue blur whipped through the air.

"Damn beast! Aren't you tired, yet!" She yelled back at the growling dog behind her.

"Sounds like wishful thinking to me." Came a voice. Her eyes squinted, as a bright coloured light suddenly appeared up along side her. Once the sparkling blue rose away from her face her mouth dropped. Kratos was flying beside her and before she could even open her mouth to speak, he had grabbed her from her seat and pulled up and over the now confused Regas.

"What are you doing? You could have gotten yourself killed!" Eve protested as he held her in his arms.

"I welcome death, but there are those who need you." He said with a grin to her as they flew towards the wavy vision of the Triet. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked away from him. Both of them had saved one another now. Once they reached the chain, would they split and go there separate ways, as their debts had both been repaid. They had only to wait as the Triet finally cleared the atmosphere and flew on towards the circling moons beyond and safe in the arms of one another. Eve slept along side Dolsolus, while Kratos's maroon gaze fell on the ever-dimming Gaia below them. The world that held every life of the entire universe by a simple string tied to a forever-dying heart.

_Author's Note:_

_All right, another chapter finished. I'm really surprised with how well this is coming._ _I apologize at the large amount of descriptions I've had to write but there are a lot of things about Gaia and the Brines that need to be said._

_Hopefully that little bit of suspense was decent. I'm not the best at things like this, but I figured the majority of you would realize that I would be saving Eve in the end. She's a main character and she can't die or be left behind now. smiles Anyways, please R&R and let me know what you think. Next chapter should be up within the week._

_Ahro_


End file.
